How Do Elephants Travel?
- Elephants are by nature migratory creatures, and must stay close to water sources due to a lack of sweat glands. Hunting for food sources is also a constant dictator of when a herd moves. Typically living in dry woodlands and savannas, females and males are part of a herd until he/she leaves after the thirteenth year. After this year, an elephant travels solo or in bachelor groups to obtain food and water.
- While in the herd, the oldest female leads the group, generally consisting of 10 adults and offspring. This female is known as the matriarch. Elephants identify where other members of the herd have been via urine deposits, which act as markers that aid in travel communication.
- The distance an elephant travels is often dependent on the age of the matriarch leading a particular herd. Elephants possess complex social networks and there is a definite social standing which determines how far a herd will move to find food and water. Older matriarchs will opt not to travel as far for necessities. Younger matriarchs are forced to lead their herds further away for food, as they do not have the clout the older matriarchs possess. However, migration distance differences between separate herds literally disappear during the wet season, when food and water becomes fully available once more. With good conditions in that season, resources are readily at hand and energy need not be conserved by the matriarchs.
- It has been generally believed by scientists that elephants only walk and do not run in travel, but that contention is beginning to be heavily questioned in the scientific community, thanks to the work of John Hutchinson and associates at the Stanford University in California.
- The fastest speed elephants move clocks in at about 15 mph, but this has never been considered running as all four feet never leave the ground at once, which occurs in running and almost never in walking. Biomechanists such as Hutchinson now believe that a pachyderm's center of mass bounces as opposed to just swinging when moving at 15 mph, which would indicate running, or "Groucho running."
- Tests are being run but no definitive data is available owing to the fact that a strong enough force platform that can measure an elephant's center of mass has not been created yet. Hutchinson and company are working to overcome this obstacle to continue their research. Either way, the comparatively high speed achieved by elephants in travel cannot be denied, and great distances can be covered during the dry season for the sake of survival.
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